Pakistani Jihadis Plant Bomb On Roof Of Bus, Blast Kills 9

Just another Saturday morning in Pakistan....you board a bus to go to the market and BOOM, your life ends because some Muslim fundamentalist couldn't go 24 hours without shedding blood.

I wonder when the last weekend was in Pakistan where no one got blown up?

The story comes from DAWN.

Nine killed in Peshawar bus bombing


PESHAWAR: At least nine people were killed and eight injured when a bomb ripped through a passenger coach in a marketplace on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to initial reports by the police, the blast hit a passenger coach as it passed through the Matni Bazar area.

Hospital officials confirmed at least nine people had been killed by the bombing.

“We received eight bodies, while one of the injured died during emergency treatment at the hospital,” said Shiraz, the emergency in-charge at the Lady Reading Hospital. “Nine people have been injured including a child and woman while four out of nine are stated to be critical.”

Bomb disposal official Abdul Haq said an estimated four to five kilograms of explosive material was used in a timed device planted on the roof of the vehicle.

Haq said the timed bomb was detonated as the bus reached Matni Bazar. The blast also destroyed a number of shops in the marketplace.

Eyewitnesses said the passenger coach was carrying about 18 passengers traveling from Scheme Chowk to Sherkara when the explosion ripped through the vehicle.

Senior Police official, Shafiullah Khan, said the blast destroyed the back of the bus and ripped the roof apart as it was traveling to Sherkara area near FR Peshawar.

The driver and cleaner of the vehicle, however, remained unhurt.

“We had boarded passengers from Scheme Chowk, mostly from the Adezai and Sherikara area, and when we reached Matni Bazar a huge explosion occurred and destroyed the vehicle,” said Jehangir, the driver.

“We don’t know what happened but we did not have anything in the coach which could have caused the blast…even the gas kits of the coach were also safe. We don’t know if anyone targeted the passengers,” he said.

Shafiullah Khan said that it was still unclear who the target of the attack was.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but militants often carry out bombings in the restive northwestern region.

The blast comes less than a month before general elections in Pakistan, scheduled for May 11, raising concerns for security during the historic polls.

Earlier Saturday, militants blew up the election office of an independent candidate in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan agency, about 300 kilometres from Peshawar.